This is a guitar that really didn't need to become a project, so this blog article is part self help, part project thread! I'll get to why in a moment, but let's start with a little backstory. My wife has really wanted an archtop for some time, she's a fan of artists like Lianne La Havas & The Staves who often use ES-175D or ES-335s (latter being a semi hollow but let's not split hairs too much!), so hearing the sounds they achieve and of course the achingly cool looks, was something she wasn't achieving with her prior strat. I was conscious that we didn't have a lot of money to play with, and the prospect of a bad archtop wasn't filling me with much desire. So instead I suggested we look at Eastman Guitars, which although a stretch of the budget, meaning a bit more saving and hard work would be needed to justify it, the quality of guitar at the end of it would be certainly worth it. We'd browsed the website and UK stockists such as Peach Guitars and GAK who both carry a wide selection, and so far so good, I liked the specs and build standard, Emma loved how they looked and sounded in the videos.